Marlins pitcher Heath Bell says he “pretty much lost” the respect of his teammates

Heath Bell spoke with Marlins beat writers this afternoon about the comments he made about manager Ozzie Guillen.

Here’s a partial transcript.

“All I have to say is what was taken yesterday on ESPN was out of proportion. I was not criticizing Ozzie one bit. I’m not retracting anything I said but that report on ESPN News, I’d say 80 percent of it was false.
“I’ve always had the respect and I’ve always given Ozzie respect. I’ve stunk this year plain and simple. That’s about it. Everything I say gets twisted so I’m going to stop talking.”

Did you talk to Ozzie to clear the air?

“I called him last night. I told him what I was feeling. I told him sorry for the comments. The article was totally taken out of context. I was not saying anything wrong or bad. That article blew up in my face and it’s not even what I said.

“The only comment I did say that was factual was ‘It’s hard to respect somebody that doesn’t tell you face to face.”’

Implying he hasn’t been honest with you?

“Yeah. There’s a few things. I’m not going to get into specifics right now for the simple fact of I’m done talking to you guys.

“Right now I’ve got to earn the respect back of my teammates my coaching staff. Do I want to be back in Miami? Yes. Do I want to close? Yes but Steve is doing a heck of a job and I’ve always said that. And I know I’m not going to get the job back and that’s perfectly fine with me, I just want to help this team win and get out of last (place). But it doesn’t matter what I say. I tried to speak the truth today and it seemed like I’m backtracking my comments.

What did you mean about the team needing a leader?

“The question was what did he think this team needs? I said we need somebody to point us in the right direction, that everybody respects and that’s it. I was never talking about Ozzie or a new manager or anything like that. I was just talking we needed direction, a direction that everybody respects and goes for it…

“I did not mean anything toward Ozzie in that aspect. But they wrote it that way, so everybody interpreted it that way. And now apparently I’m backtracking everything I said.

Was listening to that uncomfortable?

“I’m not going to answer that.”

Have you spoken to any teammate since this came out?

“Yes. I’m not going to comment on that. Like I said, I’m pretty much done talking. After today, after the next two minutes you guys are done, you won’t hear from me until 2014 (when his contract expires), plain and simple.”

You would not prefer to be traded rather than stay here?

“No, I want to stay here. I want to build something in Miami and I want to win in Miami but that’s up to Jeffrey and that’s up to Larry and all of those guys up there.”

Have you heard any reaction from front office in response to this?

“Nobody called me.”

Throughout the season you’ve talked about earning the respect of your teammates.

“Yeah, I’ve pretty much lost all that.”

You felt like you did kind of have it at one point and you’ve lost it again?

“I’ve never said anything bad about my teammates. I know one time about me, Buck and Hayes but we were trying to get on the same page and I explained and I was telling you guys I was trying to get on the same page with them. And you guys twisted it and turned it that we were arguing. The next day I talked to Buck, I talked to Hayes. I thought everything was clear…

“That’s what I was trying to explain to you that I was trying to get on the same page with them like they were trying to get on the same page with me and that was the only argument we ever had. That’s the only thing you can say I ever did anything bad about my teammate but I was not even talking about my teammates. But now it sounds like to the world I have problems with my teammates.”

You said you pretty much lost all of that meaning the trust of your —

“I don’t know. We’ll find out. We’ve got nine days left. I did say one thing about the trainers but I never said anything about my teammates… I don’t remember one time I said anything bad about any of my teammates…

“You guys are going to write what you want to write because apparently all year long you have.”